Asphalt emulsions have many uses. One typical use is in road repair. In one such example, a water-based asphalt emulsion is mixed with aggregate to perform spray injection patching of potholes in roadways. To perform spray injection patching, a truck towable trailer is provided, which includes a heated tank containing the emulsion. The emulsion is pumped from the tank to a spraying wand where the emulsion is mixed with the aggregate as the emulsion is applied to the target area of the roadway.
The tank for the truck towable trailer can only hold a limited amount of emulsion (e.g. 300 gallons) because the tank must be able to be safely transported on public roadways with typical towing vehicles owned by most cities and states. Thus, the tank must be refilled with some frequency. This requires the tank to be towed to a refill facility, which is often in an inconvenient location. Refilling stations are often inconvenient (i.e. a considerable distance from the roadway repair work being performed) because they are in fixed locations not typically near the roadway work being performed. Therefore, the truck driver must take the time to drive to and from the work site when refilling the towed tank.
Providing a conveniently located storage tank is not often possible because the emulsion must be maintained at an elevated temperature (e.g. 125-175 degrees F.) in order to keep the emulsion in its flowable state. Thus, in cold weather, and particularly sub-freezing temperature weather, the emulsion must be kept heated. Conventional storage systems are, therefore, not suitable for being exposed to cold weather. And it is not financially feasible to move a permanent storage facility or to erect many new permanent facilities.
Therefore, there is a need to provide a portable storage system for asphalt and other like material that is required to be maintained at a particular constant heated temperature even in sub-zero ambient temperatures.